Plans to build an 82km-long dam across the strait to "save" the climate.

Dutch scientists have proposed building a dam in the Bering Strait to prevent the reversal of ocean currents caused by global warming.

A team of experts from the Utrecht Institute for Ocean and Atmospheric Research at Utrecht University (Netherlands) has proposed a bold geotechnical idea: building a dam across the Bering Strait – a narrow waterway between Russia and Alaska (USA) – to prevent the collapse of the Atlantic Meridian Reversal Cycle (AMOC). This is a crucial ocean current system that regulates Earth's climate but is threatened by global warming. According to a new study published in the journal Science Advances, blocking the approximately 82-kilometer-wide Bering Strait could extend the lifespan of this system.

The Bering Strait lies between Alaska (USA) and Russia. Photo: NASA

The Smithsonian explains that AMOCs act like water conveyors, transporting warm, salty surface water from the tropics to the North Atlantic, where it cools, thickens, and sinks. This is the main reason Europe has a relatively mild climate, despite its high latitude. The cold water then returns south, carrying essential nutrients for marine life.

However, recent studies suggest that the AMOC is weakening. As temperatures rise, ice in Greenland melts, releasing freshwater into the North Atlantic. This causes surface water to become less saline, disrupting the process of cold water sinking, which in turn reduces the amount of warm water flowing in from the tropics.

The collapse of the AMOC could have catastrophic consequences. Sea levels along the East Coast of the United States would rise, temperatures in Europe would drop, rainfall patterns would change, causing droughts in Europe and Africa.

According to new research by a team of Dutch scientists , building a system of dams across the Bering Strait could buy Earth more time. The Bering Strait allows freshwater to travel from the Pacific Ocean to the Arctic Ocean, and then to the Atlantic Ocean. Dams would obstruct this flow, altering the amount of freshwater and saltwater in each ocean.

Physical oceanographer Jelle Soons at Utrecht University, co-author of the study, told New Scientist that he came up with the idea for the dam because sea levels around 2.6-5.3 million years ago, during the Pliocene epoch, were lower when a land bridge spanned the Bering Strait. Previous research indicated that AMOCs were stronger during this period, largely due to this natural barrier.

Soons, along with Henk Dijkstra, another physical oceanographer at Utrecht University, ran computer simulations to test this idea. The research team found that building a dam when the AMOC is slightly weakened could strengthen the strait system and allow it to function, even as greenhouse gas emissions increase. However, if the AMOC is already on the verge of collapse, blocking the strait would accelerate the destabilization process.

According to the research team, they would need to build three dams because there are two islands in the middle of the Bering Strait, with the longest dam being approximately 38 km. Soons assessed this solution as technically feasible. He added that the lengths would not differ significantly from the Afsluitdijk dam in the Netherlands, which is 32 km long, or the Saemangeum seawall in South Korea, which is 33 km long. The dam in the Bering Strait would have a maximum depth of 59 m, not much deeper than the deepest part of the Saemangeum seawall, which reaches 54 m. However, both of these structures are located in relatively calm coastal waters, not in remote areas with strong currents and sea ice.

The solution proposed by the Dutch scientists still carries many risks. According to Soons, disconnecting the Pacific and Arctic Oceans would affect wildlife, the fishing industry, shipping, and communities that rely on the Bering Strait for their livelihoods.

"Blocking the strait could lead to climate changes that we don't yet fully understand. Any intervention on this scale must carefully consider the unintended consequences alongside the expected benefits," Jonathan Baker, an oceanographer at the UK Met Office, told Live Science.

Soons and Baker both agree that more simulations are needed to validate the research and obtain a more detailed picture of what would happen under different scenarios. Baker stated, "Blocking the Bering Strait might delay the collapse under some conditions, but it doesn't eliminate the potential risk as the Earth continues to warm. The most reliable way to reduce the risk to the AMOC remains to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

( According to vnexpress.net )

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